Innovation Works - Revisit

Yesterday, I wrote a post about Innovation Works (Innovation Works or Shanzhai Works) and it got quite a few feedbacks. Some agree with its general idea. And of course, some don’t. (One person in Innovation Works actually gave me a call to talk about it. )

First of all, I want to clear one mistake: Dianxin is not an Android clone. It is actually built on top of Android – an Internet smart-phone operating system (based on Android) tailored for Chinese users. And whether Wandoujia is modeled after 91 Assistant can be debatable. (Maybe we can address this later after more research.)

But, Umeng is definitely very similar to Flurry and another Innovation Works project, DianDian, is close to Tumblr.

Innovation Works has 26 projects so far. And some of them are very similar to other internet companies’ ideas. The reason of it, according to the Innovation Works person, is because they work in China. “These are not our ideas. They are the entrepreneurs’ ideas,” said the person.

When I think of that, I suddenly realize: of course, if you are an incubation center and say, many of your applicants present you with business plans that are clones / remakes (or whatever you would like to call) of some successful western models, you will inevitably have chosen some.

The problem is not Innovation Works, or any particular incubation centers. The problem is the general atmosphere. Renren’s IPO price just increased another 30%, because it calls itself Facebook in China. When Renren just started it looked exactly like Facebook and Joe Chen, CEO of Renren, admitted he was copying Facebook. (And he is not ashamed of.)

The new generation of Chinese internet entrepreneurs are just following Joe Chen’s footsteps. And this is encouraged by all the investors, who bid up the price of Renren, Youku, Sina Weibo, etc.

Author of Red Wired: China's Internet Revolution, the first book to completely survey the nature of China's internet. (http://redwiredrevolution.com/) She previously was the lead China technology reporter for South China Morning Post, one of Asia’s largest English-language daily newspapers. Her work allowed her to witness the rise of China’s Internet sector first hand and to talk to many of the entrepreneurs and industry experts. Currently she is an independent consultant and writer. She regularly writes on issues concerning China internet and technologies in Asia Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal. She graduated at the University of Hong Kong before earning a MBA at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.